Chris' parent's are visiting from Tennessee so we wanted to show them a little bit of Disney. The night before Chir's dad started not feeling well so he ended up not coming with us.
BUT we had a fun time showing his mom around. We even had a few firsts , even for me!
Our first stop- The Poly. It has become Chris' favorite resort, which makes me happy because I LOVE it there!
Lily asleep in the car, as usual.
This trip we rented a couple of ECVs from an outside of Disney company. Chris is a big guy and all the walking we do usually kills him for days after and his mom recently had a knee replacement surgery so we NEEDED those ECVs. I was thrilled he wanted to get one, knowing he would have much more fun not worrying about pain all day. The company we used,
Scooter Vacations, was great! They dropped them off the night before and we just had to go to the transportation desk outside and ask for them. A CM drove them out and even showed us how to use them! They were easy and so convenient to get!
So while Chris & Mom got their scooters I took little Miss Lily into the Poly to change and feed her before we headed off.
Chris stopped at Concierge for their pin book, of course.
PS we had 200 pins for trading with us. Obsessive much????? It makes him happy and it keeps him going back to WDW, I won't complain, just mock a little.
We took a stroll around the grounds of The Poly and showed mom the beach and the view of MK. Chris told her the story of our first Disney date and how I surprised him with Wishes from the beach. Go me!
Then we decided to do something I have never done and always wanted to do....we walked the path around Bay Lake! We can do that this time because of the ECVs!!!
I decided to use the camera on my new Droid phone so the pics kinda stink but they will have to do!
I have never been anywhere close to the Wedding Pavillion before so we explored over there a bit since we saw some other people walking around too. I didn't have the foggiest clue if you can just walk around over there.
I tried the door to the chapel and it was open! I stuck myself half inside and grabbed a quick pic, no idea why its so blue tho, weird camera.
I should also mention that since we had 2 people on the ECVs i decided not to bring my huge stroller/car seat since I'd have no one to help me carry it off and on buses, so I used my baby sling all day. Lily was in 7th heaven and spent most of the day asleep and happy as a clam. I tried to get a picture of her but she was so close this was what I got...
A shot behind us.
We pin traded our way around the Grand Floridian and decided we were hungry and to head to DTD for some grub. We went out to the bus stop and there was a sign that said something to the effect of the buses not running there and to go to the TTC for a bus to DTD. I found it weird but there must have been a convention going on.
So we scoot back to the monorail and head to the TTC. We get there only to find out there isn't any bus there and we have to go to another resort. URGH! Chris did get some good pin trades done with the info desk guy. I was not too happy as we are travelling all over for no reason.
I did see this cool back drop in the shop by the TTC tho.
Chris saw an opportunity for a photo....
Back to the monorail we went, and to the Contemporary. At least Mom got to see some of Disney from the monorail.
Finally we get to the bus stop at the Contemporary, and wait about 15 minutes for a bus. Why is it that the buses come so much faster at the resorts you pay less for??? Just a pet peeve of mine when it comes to the buses.
The bus driver we got was awesome. He helped park both ECVs and even flirted with mom some, which we still tease her about.
Starving, we bipassed all the stores and headed straight for lunch at Earl. Mom & I had originals, Chris had an italian and we all shared some chips and potato salad. I got a much needed coffee as my throat was starting to get scratchy and it was a bit chilly out. We sat outside tho, covered by the seating area. Lunch was great as usual at Earl. I hadn't had it in a long time so it was reeeeeally good to me.
it was time for a bathroom break and Lily needed a change and a feeding so we headed for the nearest restroom. There was a line for the ladies, of course, but the companion rest room was open! Hooray for babies when you can use the bathroom with no line! Why am I mentioning the bathroom? Because I had a traumatic experience in there, thats why, and if I had to suffer so do you! Lily had what was the first in a several day streak of diaper explosions. I mean B-A-D. All the way up her back to her neck, no exaggeration. So after a thousand wipes and a change of clothes I headed over to Goofy's to meet up with Chris & Mom and to feed Lily at the back tables.
*Side note- those tables are an AWESOME place to just relax and be cool and comphy!!*
I get to Goofy's, claim a table and realize I left my,only sipped 3 or 4 times, coffee in the companion restroom ebcause I was so traumatized over the diaper. DARNIT!
Mad at myself I moped and fed the baby. But Super Chris came to my rescue by getting me another coffee and letting me make a rice crispie treat!!!
A pic from the next day when I ate it....dipped in dark chocolate, oreo cookie pieces and a dark drizzle. YUM!!!!!!!!!!
Then we got down to business, pin trading & more pin trading.
We headed first to , where else? The Pin Traders store! They have really cute displays tho, so I checked those out while Chris stalked some CMs for pins.
We never seem to be there when they open the big pin trading board, only once did we actually trade there. The CM we spoke to said there are some CMs that can make it happen on the register somehow but she couldn't??!! So no big pin board today. Chris did buy a few of the mystery boxes of the villians and star wars.
While we were wandering about there was a guest there that was in a wheelchair. He had a pin book with him too and we chatted a bit and decided to do a trade. He traded us for a really cool Mickey & Minnie pin and was really cool to chat with. They asked about Lily (who was now happily in her sling fast asleep) and then handed us a Mickey pin and said "This is for the baby". I was so touched I almost cried! We thanked the awesome couple and were off to check out some other stores. I have since put the pin he gave us onto Lily's sling and it stays there to remind me, yet again, why I love Disney and keep going back. It's people like that and moments like that that restore your faith in people just a smidge.
We wanted to show Mom WoD so that's where we headed. We did stop at Ghiardelli for some caramel samples. YUM. We shopped around and stopped CMs and pin traded around the whole store.
Chris tried this on and decided to buy it.
In the jewelry room I noticed some things i never took the time to see before....all the neat villains decor!! Chris, a huge villains fan, loved it.
Pretty sure I need to buy this for Lily when she is big enough to fit one!
Since we had the ECVs we decided to venture over to Pleasure Island and The West Side, since Chris, & of course Mom, hadn't seen it.
I barely took any pics at night, the lighting seemed to make the camera worse. Oh well.
We went to D-Street to pin trade and just check out the neat stuff they have. It really is cool to look at in there! I am also trying so hard not to want any more Vinylamtions! I was a collector of them before but now that we have all these pins, it's just too many expensive hobbies, so I ma trying to stick to Vinyl pins. BUT the park series' make me want them a lot.
Did you know the Mickey statue on the table made of Vinyls is made from the ice cube tray molds?? Us either, cool fact told to us by the CM there!
it was getting to be around 7 or so and the ECVs were supposed to be back at 8 so we went to the buses. We got lucky and caught a bus to The Poly right away and again got another helpful driver.
**I forgot to mention that the driver we had from the Contemporay to DTD was so great we mentioned it to a CM by the buses who we were trading with, and he told us to go to guest services and give him an "Applause-o-gram" and we did just that!**
We got to the Poly about 7:40pm and asked if the ECVs had to be back exactly at 8pm and they told us they usually don't log a time. That meant we had time to head to the beach to show Mom Wishes!
We cruised our way out, found a spot for them to park along the pathway and pulled me up a lounge chair for Lily & I. I fed her while we cuddled under a blanket and waited for the fireworks. They were playing Lilo & Stitch on one of the screens by the beach too, which was fun to kill time before Wishes.
I took this one pic before settling in to enjoy my baby girl and the fireworks.
It really is so cool to see her start to really see things more and more, this time she was even more into looking at the big, bright fireworks. So wide eyed she watched as I sang her the whole thing with tears in my eyes.I am forever greatful for little moments like that with her.
We returned the ECVs and hopped in the car and headed towards home.
It was a great day,we all had a fun time. The ECVs made it so much easier to get around and get more done, and thus have more fun! Renting outside of WDW was a must because we got to keep them all day and not worry about getting new ones everywhere we went.
Oh and we traded all 200 of those pins by then end of the night BTW.
Up Next- We went for One More Disney Day!
****just found this pic taken the end of the night that never made it into the report......****
